Book 1 / Chapter 9
Paragraph 2 - The Role of Virtue and Rationality in Achieving Happiness
Explanation - Part By Part
"It will also on this view be very generally shared; for all who are not maimed as regards their potentiality for virtue may win it by a certain kind of study and care."
Aristotle is saying that happiness, understood as the ultimate good and tied to virtue, isn’t something reserved for a select few. Instead, it’s accessible to most people, as long as they have the ability or potential to develop virtue. In other words, unless someone is inherently unable to cultivate virtue (due to something like a significant limitation or deficiency), they can achieve happiness through effort, learning, and proper attention to their character. Virtue is something that can be worked on and nurtured, and because of this, happiness becomes broadly achievable rather than exclusive.
"But if it is better to be happy thus than by chance, it is reasonable that the facts should be so, since everything that depends on the action of nature is by nature as good as it can be, and similarly everything that depends on art or any rational cause, and especially if it depends on the best of all causes."
Aristotle is saying that if happiness is something we can achieve intentionally—through virtue, learning, or effort—rather than leaving it up to random chance, then that's clearly the better way for it to be. Why? Because in nature, things tend to work toward being as good as they can be within their natural purpose or design. The same logic applies to anything created or guided by human skill (like art) or reason: things become better when guided deliberately. And if happiness depends on the best possible cause—which, in this context, likely refers to rational effort aligned with virtue—then it follows that this path to happiness makes the most sense, rather than it being a matter of luck.
Aristotle is essentially arguing that happiness should arise from reason and purpose, not randomness, because the best things in life deserve the most reliable foundation.
"To entrust to chance what is greatest and most noble would be a very defective arrangement."
Aristotle is pointing out that something as important and valuable as happiness—the ultimate goal of human life—should not be left to mere chance or luck. That would be a flawed and unreliable way for such a significant thing to be distributed. Instead, happiness should ideally come from things within our control, like our actions, virtues, and reason. This perspective emphasizes the importance of effort, deliberate choices, and cultivating virtue, as opposed to passively relying on random fortune.